Published on 06 August 2012

A man who fears the worst when his beloved dog goes missing sets out with his girlfriend to confront the local gamekeeper, in this week’s film, Dead Dog.

The film was made in 2008, directed by Edward Jeffreys and stars Chloe Bale, Adam Grayson and Iain Louden. You can read the full interview with the director on the Collabor8te website.

Dead Dog is a captivating and original piece; talk us through the inspiration for the film.

I grew up on a riding center and my family always had lots of dogs. They would go out on the rides but often didn’t come back straight away with the horses, especially when they were in two’s they would go hunting. Occasionally one would never return and I’d spend days on end looking for it. One day a new gamekeeper moved to the area and we lost two in a month so I was convinced they’d been shot. I confronted him but never found out for sure what happened.

The dance scene evokes Bonnie and Clyde and Natural Born Killers, were these conscious references?

Bonnie & Clyde, Mickey & Mallory, Clarence & Alabama, Kit & Holly are all massive inspirations and were my favorite characters growing up and still are to this day. This actual dance scene came from a song that I was listening to when writing the film and it just blended into something I knew could be very cinematic.

How did you go about casting the film?; the on-screen chemistry between the two characters is spot on.

Iain Louden the male lead was discovered by a classmate while we were studying film. He’s not an actor and I don’t think he wants to be one. He’s a stonemason who has a strong screen presence. We did hold a casting but nobody came close. Loren the producer suggested Chloe Bale the female so I watched her showreel and she felt good for the role. The chemistry comes because actors spend all their time together waiting for ages while the crew gets set up. I can understand why so many leading couples fall in love on film sets it creates the perfect environment. I guess the rest is just down to magnets and the pull of the moon.